GERMANY’S LEGACY OF DIVISION AND DREAMS OF UNITY  Germans developed the strongest kingdom in Europe around 1000 A.D., but it splintered by  The Protestant Reformation sparked bloody conflict along religious lines.  In 1848 revolutionaries tried but failed to unify Germany through democratic methods.  Germany became unified only in 1871, as a result of three bloody wars launched by Prussia under Bismarck.  Despite its supposed unification, Imperial Germany remained deeply divided along the lines of class, region, religious denomination, and gender.

The Germanic Tribes, A.D. 100: German students read in Tacitus that their ancestors were trustworthy, brave, loyal, truthful, and kind….

King Otto the Great (r ) conquered Rome in 961 and was crowned Emperor

The “First Reich:” The “Roman” Emperor Otto III (r ) receives tribute from all of Europe. But in 1075 a fierce struggle between popes and emperors broke out that undermined royal power….

Emperor Henry IV begs forgiveness from Pope Gregory VII at Canossa in 1077: The chronicles say that he stood for three days, barefoot in the snow

The Protestant Reformation deepened divisions between North and South Germans: Lucas Cranach, “The Supper of the Evangelicals and the Damnation of the Papists” (ca. 1530)

Estimated population loss in Germany from the Thirty Years’ War ( ), when Swedish, French, and Spanish armies fought on German soil

Germany gained a “national hero” in Prussia’s King Frederick the Great (r ): “Flute Concert at Sans Souci” (1851)

Frederick defeated France, Austria, and Russia in the Seven Years’ War (painted here at the Battle of Hochkirch by Adolph von Menzel in 1856)

Napoleon conquered Prussia in 1806, sparking a nationalist reaction among educated youth

Johann Gottlieb Fichte ( ), who delivered his “Addresses to the German Nation” in Berlin in 1807/08

The Congress of Vienna replaced the Holy Roman Empire with a loose-knit German Confederation

METTERNICH DESPISED THE NEW CURRENT OF NATIONALISM In the Middle Ages the word “nation” referred to one’s place of birth and was not much used. After 1400 legal documents referred to the “Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.” Rousseau proposed a new definition of legitimate government in The Social Contract (1762): “The People is the Sovereign.” Johann Gottfried Herder ( ) taught that language is the most important force shaping consciousness, and that those who do not speak your language cannot understand you. “Just as a spring of water derives its contents, powers, and taste from the rocks in which it forms, so too did the ancient character of the peoples arise from the racial traits, climate, lifestyle and education, employments, and actions peculiar to each of them.” French military occupation fueled growing resentment that exploded in the “War of Liberation” (1813/14).

University students were the first to embrace nationalism: The Burschenschaften assemble in the Wartburg Festival, October 1817

Germany became an integrated market with the Zollverein of 1834, formed at Prussian initiative

Berliners celebrate on the barricades on the evening of March 18, 1848 (royal palace in background)

Ceremonial opening of the National Assembly in St. Paul’s Church, Frankfurt a.M., May 18, 1848: “Durch Freiheit zur Einheit!”

“The Song of the Germans” (August Heinrich Hoffmann,1841, music by Haydn) became the national anthem in 1922 Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit Für das deutsche Vaterland - Danach laßt uns alle streben, Brüderlich mit Herz und Hand. Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit Sind des Glückes Unterpfand - Blüh' im Glanze dieses Glückes, Blühe, deutsches Vaterland. Unity and right and freedom For the German fatherland, Let us all pursue this purpose, Fraternally with heart and hand. Unity and right and freedom Are the pledge of happiness. Flourish in this blessing's glory, Flourish, German fatherland. Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, Germany, Germany above all, Über alles in der Welt, Above everything in the world, Wenn es stets zu Schutz und Trutze When always, for protection, Brüderlich zusammenhält, We stand together as brothers. Von der Maas bis an die Memel, From the Meuse to the Memel Von der Etsch bis an den Belt - From the Etsch to the Belt - Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, Germany, Germany above all Über alles in der Welt. Above all in the world.

German unification was in fact accomplished by the Prussian army in three bloody wars in the 1860s (the defeat of Austria at the Battle of Königgratz, July 3, 1866)

THE GERMAN INVASION OF FRANCE, AUGUST-OCTOBER 1870

The Founding of the “Second Reich:” Prussia’s King William I Hailed as German Kaiser at Versailles, 18 January 1871

The German Empire of

GERMANY REMAINED DIVIDED BY RELIGION: 64% Protestant, 32% Catholic, 1% Jewish

“Night on the Rhine,” Berliner Wespen, March 17, 1871 (the Catholic Center Party won 17% of the national vote that year)

“In Canossa: How the Delegate for Meppen [Windthorst] Would Like to See Bismarck Stymied,” Der Ulk, May 22, 1872

“Between Berlin & Rome” (May 1875): Bismarck waged the Kulturkampf from 1872 to 1878

GERMANY WAS BECOMING EVER MORE POLARIZED BY SOCIAL CLASS STATUS * Self-employed28%20%17%13%10% White-collar6%10%17%22%36% Family helper10%15%17%16%7% Blue-collar56%55%49% 47% 100% Total labor force in millions * Right column refers to Federal Republic only

Ferdinand Lassalle ( ) & his banner: “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity! Unity makes us strong!”

“To honor our elders and guide the young!” (poster to commemorate the Gotha socialist unification congress of 1875)

The Anti-Socialist Law ( ) prohibited any effort to propagate socialism or republicanism, but labor unrest spread: Robert Koehler, “The Strike” (Munich, 1886)

“Revenge for our persecuted comrades, Long live Social Democracy” “Only he deserves freedom and life who must conquer them daily” (a “proletarian house blessing”)

Liberty summons Progress to demolish the Bastille of capitalism with the 8-Hour day (Der wahre Jacob, 1895)

Kaiser Wilhelm II (r ) sought to promote national unity through Weltpolitik and battleship building

The government sought popularity through Imperialism: Poster to advertise “Navy War Games” in Berlin, 1910

Europe on the eve of the Great War: German leaders felt “encircled” by the Great Britain, France, & Russia

Soldiers in Berlin march toward Paris, 2 August 1914

Munich’s Odeon Square, August 1, 1914